Even that which tastes sweet can leave a bitter aftertaste. A new lab tech unintentionally brings trouble to the lab. Will she be able to control the damage? Please R&R. Mild language. GGOC? GSR? GSOC? Ch. 16 is in and the end. Epilogue is up as well.

Disclaimer: I do not
own CSI or any of its Characters. I just like using them for my
amusement.

Author's note: This
takes place after the season finale. I'm anti-GSR so you've been
warned.

Chapter 1

Catherine Willows was
sitting in her office. Her shift had been slow so far and she was
finally getting a chance to work on the stack of papers that had been
on her desk for the last week. She was coming to understand why
Grissom was always late with his reports.

She had just finished
her umpteenth report when her phone rang. There was a dead body that
needed her attention. She heaved a sigh, but was secretly thankful
to get away from the sea of blue ink and red tape.

The scene was an 18
year-old blonde girl named Gina Marshall. She was shot twice in her
Spring Valley home. There was no sign of forced entry and no sign of
a struggle. This girl didn't know it was coming. Catherine shook
her head in sorrow. The girl looked like an older version of
Lindsey. She grabbed her kit and started collecting the evidence.

Just as she was packing
up her collection of evidence, back at the lab Gil Grissom got a
call. Graveyard shift had started off busy and now it was another
dead body. Grissom knew everyone else was already out on a call, so
he decided to take this one.

Once Grissom got to the
scene in Henderson, he found the victim was a 22 year-old man. He
just finished closing up the retail store where he worked when he was
gunned down outside. The deposit bag was missing and robbery was
suspected as the motive in the death of Kevin Otis. Grissom didn't
even try to ponder what would make a person kill another over a
couple thousand dollars.

Later that shift,
Grissom walked through the hallway and into the DNA lab. He hoped
the report on the evidence he had collected earlier was finished.

"Do you have the Otis
report ready, Wendy?" Grissom asked to the woman's back, not
looking up from the one in his hands.

The woman's body
tensed as she handed Grissom a report without uttering a word. She
knew she'd run into him eventually, but she didn't think it would
be this soon. And it's not that she didn't want to say
something—anything—it was just that she couldn't even manage a
'Hi'.

"Thank you," he
said still not looking up from the report in his hands.

He probably doesn't
even notice I'm not Wendy, she thought a little relieved, going
back to the test tube in front of her.

Then, as if he'd
heard her thoughts, he looked up and observed, "You're not
Wendy."

The woman completely
froze where she stood. She was trying to figure out if she had
accidentally uttered her last statement aloud. She didn't look up
from the test tube in front of her, attempting to hide her
uneasiness. After a moment she forced herself to say, "Not today."

"Did she quit?"
Grissom questioned the woman.

Finally, she gathered
all her strength and looked up at him with her crystal blue eyes.
She shook her head, causing a few of her black hairs to shake loose
from the ponytail. Timidly she answered, "She…she had a car
accident or something and they asked me to fill in."

"And you are?"
Grissom raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, sorry," the
woman replied, realizing she had forgotten to introduce herself.
"Cate Dietz." She started to extend her hand, then realizing it
was gloved and why it was gloved, she pulled it away. She gave a
weak half smile and shrugged her shoulders. "It's my first
day…and my second shift."

"Gil Grissom," he
said with a nod, noting that there was something familiar about her
but not quite sure what it was. Then he added, "It's your first
day and you're already pulling a double?"

She shrugged again.
"Mindfreak is a repeat tonight," she let out a nervous
giggle. "Anyway, I've got a lot to do," she motioned to the
vials in front of her. She needed to get him out of the lab so her
heart would slow.

Grissom took the hint.
"Nice to meet you," he said and then exited.

Nice to meet you,
again, she thought as she exhaled and her muscles loosened.
Although she didn't know if their first encounter really counted as
a 'meeting'. They had exchanged names and did the obligatory
hand shake, but he had done the same with so many other people that
day about a dozen years ago. She knew the man who'd guest lectured
at her university so long ago wouldn't remember just another
student. However, to her, he was much more than a guest lecturer.
She didn't know where she'd be if it hadn't been for Gil
Grissom.

Grissom walked down the
hall towards his office, totally oblivious that anything out of the
ordinary had occurred. As he was entering it, he heard someone call
his name. He turned around in time to see Catherine hurrying down
the hall towards him.

"Grissom," she
repeated. "I need to talk to you."

"Sure, what's up
Cath?" he replied as they walked into his office.

"I've been looking
at the ballistics report I just got and I think we might be working
the same case," she told him.

He raised an eyebrow.
"Oh?"

"It looks like my
bullet from the Marshall case matches yours from the Otis case,"
she replied.

"Interesting," he
replied, taking the report from Catherine, wondering what a home
invasion in Spring Valley had to do with a robbery in Henderson.

"What've you got?"
she asked Grissom.

"The DNA results from
the Otis case," he replied, not looking up from the report he just
took from her.

"So you met the new
girl," she inquired.

"Yes," Grissom
confirmed. "What happened to the other guy?"

"Quit," Catherine
answered. "He didn't like the hours."

Grissom looked up at
Catherine and questioned, "It's her first day. Is she
experienced enough to work a double alone?"

"Of course,"
Catherine responded, a little offended at his question. She wondered
if he actually thought she'd have someone who wasn't qualified
working in the lab. "She's got a degree in Biology and worked in
the Atlanta lab for a number of years."

"Any good?" he
asked.

"Her work so far has
been excellent," Catherine jokingly replied.

Grissom got back to the
matter at hand. "Do the victims have anything else in common
besides what killed them?"

Catherine opened the
file in front of her. "Not that I can see, but I'll get on it."

Grissom nodded. "I'll
check with Sophia to see if anyone can place a vehicle or person at
both scenes."

Catherine exited
Grissom's office and they both got to work.

Elsewhere in the
office, Cate was working on some more evidence. Her run-in with
Grissom had caused her to be a little uneasy. It wasn't every day
that she ran into her idol. So, she decided she'd turn on some
music to help calm her.

As the classical music
filled the room, she got lost in the rise and fall of it. It helped
melt away the nervousness she had felt. And for the first time in a
long time, she started dancing along with the music. She had
generally reserved her ballet for the comfort of her room where no
one watched, but she needed to release her extra energy. She did her
work as she did her dance, picking up a test tube, doing a pirouette
and placing it in the centrifuge. She was totally oblivious to her
growing audience.

Greg Sanders was the
first member of her audience. He was going to the lab to drop off
some evidence to be processed. Before he entered, he heard the
music. It wasn't what he had played when the DNA lab was his, but
it wasn't so bad. Then he saw her dancing and stopped in the
doorway.

He knew right away it
wasn't Wendy, even though he hadn't seen her face. The hair
color and stature were all wrong. This woman had black hair; Wendy's
was red. Wendy was also taller and didn't dance. He didn't want
to interrupt her, so he stood, watching.

Warrick Brown came down
the hall a few moments later and wondered what Greg was doing.

"What's going on?"
Warrick asked as he approached.

Greg put his forefinger
to his lips and then pointed into the lab. Warrick looked and saw
what held Greg's gaze. It wasn't everyday someone danced around
the lab as they processed evidence.

Nick Stokes and Sara
Sidle turned the corner and walked down the hall that contained the
DNA lab. They were discussing a case they had been working on. They
stopped when they saw Warrick and Greg standing just outside the lab.

Nick was about to ask
what they were doing, when he reached the door to the lab and saw the
woman dancing. He smiled, wondering if the woman realized she had
gained an audience. Sara joined them when she saw the smile on
Nick's face.

After another minute,
the music stopped and the woman stopped dancing. Her small audience
of CSIs started to clap. She turned toward them, finally away of
their presence. She dropped the rubber stopper in her hand and
immediately ducked down behind the table to find it—and get out of
their view.

She took a few deep
breaths and tried to calm her again excited heart. She couldn't
believe people had been watching and she didn't notice. She made a
mental note not to dance in the lab anymore. When she had decided
her cheeks were back to their normal color, she stood to face her
audience.

"Hi," she said,
giving a weak wave and smile to the four still standing there.

Greg was the first to
walk in and extended his hand. "Greg Sanders," he introduced
himself.

She took his hand,
worried about how sweaty her palm probably was, "Cate Dietz."

Then each of the other
three introduced themselves in turn, shaking her hand.

After they
introductions were concluded Cate added, "I'm honored to meet you
all. I've heard so many good things." Then under her breath she
muttered, "I'm so embarrassed."